Marvin Smith


Marvin "Smitty" Smith is an American jazz drummer and composer.
Marvin Smith was born in Waukegan, Illinois, where his father, Marvin Sr., was a drummer. "Smitty" was exposed to music at a young age, receiving formal musical training at the age of three.
After graduating from Waukegan East High School, Smith attended Berklee, graduating in 1981. Smith has recorded 200 albums with various artists, as well as two solo albums. He belongs to the founding members of the M-Base collective, sharing the drummer's seat with Mark Johnson. He recorded and toured in different line-ups especially with Steve Coleman, with whom he also was part of the Dave Holland Quintet in the early 1980s. He has toured with, among others, Sting, Sonny Rollins, and Willie Nelson. He is a former member of The [New York Jazz Quartet], and was the drummer for the Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992 TV series)|Tonight Show with Jay Leno] band, led by Kevin Eubanks, from January 30, 1995 until the show's end on May 29, 2009. Smith was also the drummer for the Jay Leno Show band in 2009-10.

Discography

As leader

  • Keeper of the Drums
  • ''The Road Less Traveled''

As sideman

With Terence Blanchard and Donald Harrison
  • New York Second Line
With Hamiet Bluiett
With Joanne Brackeen
With Igor Butman
  • Falling Out
With Donald Byrd
With Don Byron
  • No-vibe Zone
With Michel Camilo
With Steve Coleman and M-Base
With Larry Coryell
With Art Davis
With Ray Drummond
With Robin Eubanks
With Art Farmer
With Frank Foster and Frank Wess
With Benny Golson
With Gunter Hampel New York Orchestra
With John Hicks
With Dave Holland
With Andy Jaffe
With the Art Farmer/Benny Golson Jazztet
With Carmen Lundy
  • Jazz & the New Songbook: Live at the Madrid
With Buddy Montgomery
With Ralph Moore
With David Murray
With David "Fathead" Newman
With Joe Newman and Joe Wilder
With Emily Remler
With Sonny Rollins
With Michel Sardaby
  • Going Places
With Archie Shepp
With Superblue
With Harvie Swartz, Mick Goodrick, and John Abercrombie
  • Arrival
With McCoy Tyner
With Gebhard Ullmann, Andreas Willers, and Bob Stewart
  • Suite Noire
With Bobby Watson
With Tommy Ward